Echinococcus granulosus: regulation of leukocyte growth by living protoscoleces from horses, sheep, and cattle

To determine whether living hydatid tissue can, like hydatid fluid, regulate leukocyte growth, T-cell, B-cell, and macrophage lines were cocultured with protoscoleces of Echinococcus granulosus and their growth was compared with that of control cultures by thymidine uptake estimates and chemiluminescent assays of cell number. Protoscoleces supported mitosis of IL-1-deprived D10 T cells, but did not increase D10 count. The action of protoscoleces was affected by the species and organ of their origin and the length of time in culture. Unusually marked mitotic reaction, unaffected by parasite age and origin, was recorded in the B-cell line, BSM, also without commensurate count increase, indicating that induced mitosis resulted in cell loss. It is concluded that protoscoleces can induce mitosis in B and T cells of particular lineages and that this is a potential means of producing the pathological proliferation and depletion of B- and T-cell areas which characterize local reaction to hydatids.